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Well as it's quite a fine day with only moderate breeze I jumped at the chance of test shooting the Majestic but before I did that I put it back into it's original stock ................ and as an afterthought cut a new card shim for the stock tip pressure point so I could double it and increase the upwards pressure as with just a single thickness it was not enough really. The barrel sits central and does not move without quite a bit of pressure now .

I had 4 re-loads left with the Remington 110 grn SP so thought I would try them, five reloads with the Sierra 140 grn BTSP #1845 over IMR 4831 were also tried, these were loaded 6 1/2 years ago , and a few rounds of Federal fusion 150 grain.

I had put a 4x40 Chinese copy of a Tasco scope in a set of Vintage P-H period rings. The un-named Chinese scope has proved accurate in the past and in fact has enough adjustment to use with .303 MkV11 at 600 yards . The scope will do for range testing and final load development whilst I sort out a nice 4x36, 4x40 or 6x42 scope for the rifle. Or possibly I'll get a set of those steel 30mm rings and use the Tasco Titan 3-9x42?

Anyway the scope was set up using the collimeter and a target set up at 70 paces, this is the distance from the tree which was to serve as an impromtu rest and the back stop. I did walk forwards and fire the first shots free hand from about 30 paces using the Fusion ammunition followed by two of the 110 grn remington laods. The Fusion landed 3" left of centre and the 110's 1 1/4" left of centre so adjustment was made the and it was back to the tree.

From the tree the first ammunition tried was the Remington 110 Grain SP

The load printed 3 1/2" high from the tree and the lack of fore stock chequering made itself noticeable. The jump of the 270 in this light rifle was lifting the fore stock out of my left hand. I shall have to modify my holding technique with this rifle it seems. The 110's did not group that well .

Next was the old 140 grn Sierra hand load, it too shot high and 1" to the right of centre however it shot three into group of 5/8" but one of the four fired went low/left by about 2" so this load will be made up and tried again from a better shooting position and at a longer distance.

The Fusion ammo shot to alot lower POI than the hand load and the shot fired landed 1 3/8" apart .........................Hmmm this too will need to be tested for a proper shooting position for evaluation.

The testing was split into two "sessions" between walking forwards to fire the initial shots and using the tree I cleaned the bore whilst it was still warm as in the past I have found this way removes a lot of old embedded copper fouling. The bore is again soaking with P-H 009 as I write this and I think it will take several days to get all the years of copper build up removed.

The good news is that it does not look like it will need a replacement barrel now I have to mull over whether to remove the foresight and thread the muzzle That was the original intention but the blacking is still too good really sooooooooooooooo?

Hmmm I wonder if a moderator could be made to slip over the barrel and lock behind the foresight....?

Nothing untoward showed up in testing. Bolt lift was fine, extraction fine and cases look good. cartridges feed smoothly from the magazine and the trigger now breaks cleanly at 2lbs 12 oz. I adjusted it so it's now single stage and this weight is about as low as it will go. The triggers on these Majestic's can be adjusted to single or two stage and the weight of pull adjustment has a locking screw so once set it stays put..

OK so this is what we are working with here:-

More old school quality. The rings are profiled as are the tension screws unlike the late P-H rings which the cost cutters got to:-

No nice rounded profile just square edges done for cheapness and speed very sad ..

To keep the weight down BSA routed out the fore stock like this. There are also holes bored back into the butt under the butt pad to lighten the stock. The assemble rifle weighs 6 1/4lbs.

Those are the two card shims placed there by a previous owner when they attempted to free float the barrel

The silver screw head retains the trigger guard to the stock

You can see the splice repair and the damage done by the free floating attempt.

Due to the slim profile the sling loop can be stripped out especially if the use of a bi-pod is attempted.

Although the stock finish is intact there are so many compression marks and dings that it's more than likely I'll strip it and stem them out before doing a new finish to the wood . No rush though that can wait until next summer.

That's a real nice rifle mate, I do love the older rifle's such as the Bsa's, Parker hales, Tikka's an Sako's lovely machining and good woodwork just makes a better rifle IMHO. Keep us posted on future development's I'll be watching!

Thank you, depending upon the weather in the morning I may take it and myself over to the range at Reepham Moor. Have just enough IMR 4831 to make a up a few loads and I have a few factory Norma and RWS as well as the Federal Fusion so it would make the trip interesting and I can take the .222 and a rim-fire for some practice to make the drive over worth while plus I have a target rifle to test fire and the Sportco M44 needs to be zeroed with the FNM ammo I picked up. Just in case I printed off some targets this afternoon. This is what I mean about the fore stock:-

That's the .243 Majestic

That's the other .270 majestic and the one I used when stalking with John in April. Both of those have the fore stock chequered the new one does not The .270 witt eh chequered fore end was made in 1959, the .243 we cannot decipher the view mark as it's been struck twice and it blurred the newly acquired one seesm to be I-B which does not exist so?:-

I filled the markings with chalk to make them stand out more.

Edit:- No range trip today as it's blowing near gale force with squalls of rain thrown in. Not good weather for testing the grouping ability of a rifle ...................... *Sigh*

Hi Kev
I am in love again BSA BSA BSA can't get enough sad am I not , your majestic looks a lot like my long action imperial exept the bolt is not the same mine has a long metal extractor similar to a Brno fox on the outside of the bolt, one day I will post a photo if it ever stops raining.

AT THE AGE OF 50 I DECIDED I WAS GOING TO GROW OLD F***ING DISGRACEFULLY

Hi Kev
I am in love again BSA BSA BSA can't get enough sad am I not , your majestic looks a lot like my long action imperial exept the bolt is not the same mine has a long metal extractor similar to a Brno fox on the outside of the bolt, one day I will post a photo if it ever stops raining.

I await the photos with anticipation

The Majestic was a modernisation of the "Royal" and Featherweight line of rifles. The extractor covers about 1/3 of the rim diameter of the cartridge so has a good purchase for extraction. Although of course it is a push feed. These long actions have twin feed ramps, one from each side of the magazine, the shorter action has just a single curved feed ramp. Just went and got the .243 out to check , the twin feed ramps was continued into the CF2 action and again the ones for medium cartridges like the 7x57 has a single ramp.

Perhaps there should be a get together of the members here with like minds and tastes . I am envious of your Imperial It's one I don't have as yet along with a Viscount and Hunter. Now if you ever get over this side of the country drop me a line ad perhaps you can visit and see them in the flesh.